Just picked up a new processor and motherboard for my friend Flip (say “Hi”, Flip). Threw it in, essentially just replacing the old ‘board and proc. At first, we got the ol’ “Windows Protection Error… you need to restart your computer”. I fiddled around a bit (ultimately finding that one of the jumpers was incorrectly placed)… and then the computer refused to boot up at all. It got stuck on the message “Verifying DMI pool data”.
Now, I spent a good half-hour trying to figger this thing out, with no dice. Frustrated, I just put the old processor and motherboard back in (nothing on the old board was changed). But, again, “Verifying DMI pool data”, and no load-up.
What’s the hang-up, fellow 'Dopers? Is there some easy solution I can undertake? Or am I just cursed?
Go into the BIOS. On most boards this is the DEL key. Somewhere in the maze of menus, probably in the section dealing with hardware and resources, you’ll find a setting named “Force Update ESCD Data”, which will be set to Disabled. Enable it. This causes the BIOS to go “Eh? What do I have connected to me again? I better check…” when you next boot up. This has fixed this problem for me in the past.
Clear the CMOS. This is usually a jumper on the motherboard that you move for 15 seconds while the machine is powered off, then move back. CMOS forgets all your configuration parameters, and you get to input them again. This is the first thing you have to do when you get a new motherboard.
I’ve had that problem before. Many times, on many computers.
Every time, it was because of a driver issue.
Quick solution - If the computer has a NIC, disconnect the Ethernet cable. (NIC’s often have Interrupt conflicts and seem, in my experience, to be the biggest culprit.)
If there’s no NIC, try booting in safe mode. Check out device manager.
Of course, the above is all anecdotal, and may not really solve your problem. You should probably check out The Microsoft Knowledgebase and see what they say.
